


From me to you

by NoVaNoah



Series: Pokemon Soul Masters: In the make of the mastery [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: F/M, Mallow doesn't even get a line but she's still somewhat significant, amourshipping, well now Mallow has a line
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 02:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9269522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoVaNoah/pseuds/NoVaNoah
Summary: EDIT/UPDATE: Welp it's a multichapter now because I have no self control and chapter 2 (a time-parallel ) got out of hand before I realized. I hope you enjoy it anyways!





	1. Love will taste like malasadas...or malasadas will taste like love?

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT/UPDATE: Welp it's a multichapter now because I have no self control and chapter 2 (a time-parallel ) got out of hand before I realized. I hope you enjoy it anyways!

_< < “Serenaaa_ _~_ _! I just tried one of the best things of this world!! So delicious! Wait, let me send you a photo!” >> _

Serena sat on the grass next to the battlefield of the pokemon center and took her phone, gasping lightly. It was already past dinner time and the air was still as heavy as it was during the afternoon, making her late training session harder than it should be.

Hoenn summer didn’t make her any favor and to be honest she was starting to believe the Lumiose Badlands weren’t that bad after all. Because back there you would definitely expect to suffer the high temperatures and you would be prepared for it, but in whole region of Hoenn the weather was so erratic that even after 2 months there Serena was still having problems choosing her clothing for the day; let alone the big mess her hair had been since the beginning of the rain season. Good thing the contest circuit didn’t open up inscriptions again till autumn, she didn’t feel like taking the stage like this.

After finally catching her breath Serena grabbed her water bottle from her bag and practically emptied it in a few sips. Yes, this kind of training definitely was going to put her and her pokemon in shape like nothing before. In no time she would be absolutely worth of the Kalos Queen crown, she was sure of it.

After lowering her bottle, she slid her phone unlocked and saw the message-notification jumping on her main screen. After she tapped it, a little bubble with Ash’s face popped up and swapped up to the top of the screen, dragging open the P-Chatter.

Serena couldn’t help to grin bigly at the message and the situation in general. As with everything remotely technologic, Ash had grown obsessed with the P-Chatter as soon as he got a phone in Alola about a month ago, and had been messaging Serena on a daily basis since then.

P-Chatter was such an innovative thing for trainers, especially those who while traveling wouldn’t hit a Pokemon Center for several days. What until then had just been reduced to sporadic chat sessions on pokemon centers and cafes was now within easy reach for everyone; groups of friends could keep in touch more easily and share the interesting tidbits of their journeys with just a few taps, be it a written conversation, a voice call, a video call, even image sharing, being the last one object of Ash’s predilection. By now Serena had a full folder of Ash’s photos, half of them consisting on pokemon he saw through the day or during his lessons at school. 

That sure has been the situation until Ash ruined his phone a week ago and had to send it to repairs. Serena could almost taste the deep angst on his soul when he informed the situation in a generic message from a cafe computer (to all his contacts presumably). If Serena had to be honest, that was meant to happen eventually, since half of the pictures she received did nothing to hide the daring situations Ash would get himself into in order to get a nice photo. Now that he had recovered his phone at last and was back to it, Serena hoped he would make it last.

  


<<-Ash has sent _malasada.img_ ->>

  


An image soon started loading below a pokemote on a munchlax sticking out its tongue.

“Malasada” Serena mumbled.

The photo showed a big plate of what seemed round fried pastries covered in what Serena guessed sugar. One of them was parted in half, displaying an incredibly puffy interior and a small portion of what seemed jelly-like filling. It indeed looked delicious.

_< <Wow! They look awesome! Be careful and don’t overeat though! I know you and your black hole-ish stomach, you’re capable of cleaning that plate by yourself aren’t you?~>>_

Ash replied with a pokemote of a Swirlix and a heart right to it and Serena’s heart skipped a beat. That Ash, seriously…

_< <You need to try them! Mallow says she can give me the recipe so you can try it yourself Serena!>>_

_< <Yes of course! Tell her I say thank you!>>_

_< <The sun is about to set so I’ll be heading back to Prof.  Kukui’s now. Mallow will send you the recipe once she gets back to her house and types it down. It will take her a while though, she said she has to run some errands on the town first~>>_

_< <Okie~>>_

True. Sometimes Serena used to forget that they now had a time zone difference of 4 hours between Hoenn and Alola, so Ash had just left school and was probably hanging out with Mallow, Kiawe, Lillie, Lana and Sophocles by now. Out of all of them Serena just knew stuff about Mallow beyond her physical appearance like with the others. She seemed to be really interested in Serena since the first time Ash mentioned her to the gang and to be honest the interest was mutual. They had exchanged P-Chatter IDs just a few days ago. Her icon was a pastel-filtered picture of her Bounsweet with a small chef hat that Serena found beyond adorable.

The sky went all white for a whole second followed by a chorus of rays running across the sky, and Serena jumped, almost dropping her phone. The next thing she knew was that Nurse Joy was hurrying her inside while a pouring rain started to fall over her head. Damn Hoennese weather.

Serena grabbed the towel Nurse Joy handed her and dried her bag first, then her clothes and finally her face a bit. She immediately headed to her room and dropped her bag on the floor and looked for her pajamas before going to the showers just beside the dormitories. It was the second shower she had that day and it felt as good as the first one. No, maybe even better since she earned this one.

A few hours before during dinner on the Pokemon Center dining hall, Serena watched an interview with the winner of the last contest that took place on Slateport City. The green haired boy and his Roserade exuded airs of professionalism while replying to the interviewer with a modest smile. A second later a review of his showcase and battle took place and Serena found herself unable to take her eyes away from the screen. And then she needed to work a bit more before going to bed she felt, kind of overwhelmed by what she just watched. But at the same time so motivated, so ready to reach that level.

 

<<-Ash has sent _malasada-rcp.pdf_ ->>

 

Serena sat on her bed with the hair drier in one hand and her phone on the other reading through Mallow’s recipe, extremely detailed but also full of pokemon doodles on the margins. Even the document template was a cute one, she wanted to print it.

_ <<Received and saved! <3 I’ll tell you how it goes once I try it out!>>_

  _< <Yay! Now I look forward eating malasadas made by Serena, everything you prepare is always the best!>>_

 _< <Yay thank you Ash! <3 >>_ was the phrase that Serena picked to translate the way her heart jumped to her throat and her stomach folded itself in. Messaging Ash without looking his face or hearing his voice directly had proved to be dangerous for her health because it set her imagination free and out of control. Of course Ash wouldn’t say anything with a romantic implications or a suave tone at all, and Serena knew that very well. ‘ _But what if he DID_??’ Serena’s mind replied to her every time. A regular compliment like that would be turned into a thing that would stay on her head for the rest of the day probably. At least it kept her motivated on her intensive training and focused on something else than the excruciating heat, so she was grateful for that at the very end.

A beep of a new incoming message made Serena startle a little.

_< <Ah! I didn’t notice sorry, it’s very late over there now, isn’t it? I’m keeping you awake…>>_

_< <Hahaha, it’s pouring like the world is breaking apart outside, thunders that make pikachu’s pale in comparison. I don’t think I will get any sleep tonight :( >>_

_< <Ahh are you scared??? Do you need me to go over there? D: >>_

_< <Hahaha yes please. Make it here in 5 minutes >o<! >> _Serena chuckled.

 _< <Hahaha. Ok let’s do something. Imagine I’m there embracing you while you fall asleep so you don’t have to be afraid anymore!_ _< 3_ _> > _Ash closed that message with a pokemote of a Teddiursa.

Serena gasped abruptly and buried her face in the pillow till she ran out of air. The heat of her face was barely tolerable when she raised it up and ran her hand down her right cheek.

“…Dang Ash Ketchum, how do you expect me to sleep with this?...”

_< <Hahaha great idea Ash! I’ll do that then and head to bed in this instant~!>>_

_< <Good to hear~ Talk to you tomorrow!>>_

_< <Talk to you tomorrow, don't stay up late <3>>_

 

 

“…D-dang Ash Ketchum…” Serena muttered again to the clarity of the morning.


	2. 'That' kind of love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seems something hit Ash and he didn't see it coming, but Professor Kukui is there to catch him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm warning you, I could go sappier.
> 
>  
> 
> \--Beta'd by my love Jane ♥ (Dento's-wife on Tumblr and DA).

"In nature, male and female Cutiefly differ in size, the later having noticeably longer body and legs. Also, it’s one of the few species where the female ones pick their mates; literally. They carry 'em around while collecting pollen and soothing them with their sweet essence. The male Cutiefly carries an extra load of pollen with him watching for any danger to either of them but most of the time the smaller Cutiefly just enjoys the ride! That’s because Cutiefly is more of a predator than prey, isn’t it?"

Lillie agreed with Professor Kukui and added some of her own insight about the difference between the Cutiefly of Melemele and Akala. Kiawe added his own two cents on the matter when she was finished.

Whatever important information may have been explained, Ash lost complete track of as he started dozing off, his left hand barely supporting his head.

The preceding nights had been rough, but the most recent of them were especially heavy. Not only the repetitive kind of dreams he had been having lately—and that he seemed unable to shake off, his phone had been in repair for a week now after he dropped and ruined it; Mallow said this was meant to happen. Nonetheless, he had to depend on the cafe computers to access the desktop version of the P-Chatter and keep in contact with his friends out there due to this mishap. That itself proved to be harder in practice since some of them had special events coming up, as in contests, tournaments and such, and Ash was having a hard time giving them the proper attention they deserved in the scarce moments he had each afternoon.

Ash also soon learned how hard it was for him to get used to and re-adjust to a domestic life and the schedule it carried. His brand-new phone turned into something he depended a lot on to keep track of time, or when it came to give Professor Kukui proper notice when he couldn’t do work in time for dinner—that kind of basic courtesy.

So that previous night; not having his phone with him meant he lost track of time when he walked down the beach in order to do some light training with Pikachu and Rockruff right after dinner, or at least that was his plan. By the time everyone’s energy died down and Ash’s heavy mind felt a little lighter he noticed they had walked much further than intended, and with the port in sight ahead of them, it was almost 2 am.

At his return, Kukui was sleeping on the porch against the door frame, Rowlet in his lap equally asleep. Ash felt terrible for that, realizing immediately he had worried him so badly he couldn’t head to bed at midnight like he usually would; which was late enough. On top of that, he caught the man yawning profusely more than once that morning before the class started, and now Ash himself was falling asleep in middle of his very important Pokemon Biology lecture.

Just great.

He didn’t have enough time to indulge in his guilt because he found himself being brought back to reality by Kiawe and the sound of the bell to dismiss class.

“Hey Ash, are you feeling well?” He asked shaking him lightly.

“Eh? Uh… yeah?” Ash replied with a grimace, turning to face him with one eye barely open. “I’m just super tired, I didn’t get to sleep well last night. I’ll catch up tonight, nothing to worry about.”

“Oh okay, if you say so. It’s really unlike you to just fall asleep like that when it comes to Pokemon,” he noted and Ash hummed in approval. “Anyways, class is over, come on.” Kiawe said patting his back.

“W-wait what? Really?” Ash jumped in his seat, rubbing his eyes.

“Haha yes, come on, let’s head back.”

“Wow… just… how much did I sleep?” He asked, looking around to an empty classroom except for him and Kiawe.

“About an hour I think.” He replied.

“Ugh… and Professor Kukui allowed me to sleep though it just like that?” Ash let out a moan, not unlike the call of a dying Wailmer and fell to his desk again.

“Well, Mallow tried to wake you up but he told her to let you sleep, you looked really bad since you arrived to class after all,” he retorted slowly as Ash rose from his seat and gathered his belongings. “Ah, we got a lot of pointers for tomorrow’s field class. I would ask Lillie for her notes of today’s class if I was you.”

“I will do that, yes…”

“What were you dreaming about by the way?” Kiawe asked suddenly as they exited the classroom. The rest of the group was waiting for them at the end of the corridor.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, at some point you started giggling a bit and then spent the rest of the hour smiling widely,” he explained. “You looked really content for some reason.”

Ash directed his attention to the school’s open yard as they walked, facing away from his friend.

“… Ah really? Can’t recall…” he replied with an uncommitted tone.

Except he remembered that dream clearly, as weird and short as it had been. And it was because it was so weird that he didn’t want to talk about it.

On their way to the mall, a couple of Cutiefly started chasing Lillie, who sought shelter in Mallow’s arms while her Steenee carried them away with its Sweet Scent.

Ash found himself staring intently at that pair of Cutiefly as they disappeared over the ravine. It looked pretty much like Professor Kukui had described, except Ash had imagined the female Cutiefly giving the male one a piggyback ride. Instead it just looked like the later was snuggled in the middle of its mate’s wings with its legs covered in pollen. It looked extremely content, like that was where he belonged.

 

* * *

 

 

 **mate** 1 /meɪt/   **n., v.,**    **mat•ed, mat•ing.**    
**_n._**  [ _countable_ ]

  1. a husband or wife;
  2. a sexual partner of an animal.
  3. one of a pair: a mate of a glove.
  4. [ _Chiefly Lutt._ ] friend; buddy; (often used as a friendly term of address)
  5. This word is used after a root or word with the meaning "a person who shares'':  
an office-mate (= _someone sharing an office); a roommate (_ =  _someone sharing a room);_  
_a soulmate (=someone sharing a deep affinity that transcends space and successive lifetimes)._



“Oh…”

It was now 8 pm, after a shower and he was still stressing over that thing. He even had a dictionary now, and was hiding so Rotomdex wouldn’t question him about it; as he looked up the definition of the thing had enlightened him, only to open the door to new questions nonetheless.

Ash wasn’t as ingenuous as most people thought he was. Earlier that day he realized immediately, his mind must have brought something from his restless subconscious and mashed it with the last thing he heard before he fell asleep. He could even smell her perfume this time, or the memory of it, who knows. One thing sure was that, while it was the first time he dreamed something so specific and vivid, it wasn’t the first time she appeared on Ash’s dreams. He remembered how his mother used to appear on his dreams back in the days of his Kanto journey when he would get a little homesick, and it was usually domestic situations, almost like memories, of their daily life at home. But now it was different and Ash would be stupid to not realize it.

The more he tried to find a reasonable explanation for all of it, the more confused he got, and the dreams continued with a pace that was almost embarrassing! Not that the dreams themselves had something he should feel himself ashamed for, but the recurrent, almost fixated topic of having Serena there, was something Ash wasn’t proud of. Of course he missed her, it was to be expected, but they’ve been talking regularly since they parted ways some months ago and the only thing they were lacking now was each other’s physical presence.

Recalling the day they parted ways…

Ok yes, if Ash had to be honest with himself, he missed her. A lot. And it was bothering him; his own attitude particularly because of course he missed all the people he had traveled with during his journey so far! But for some reason it felt different now. Was it maybe because he had too much free time to think about it? Unlike when he was constantly traveling from one place to another and his days more eventful? Then why did his subconscious have a fixation with Serena particularly?

For some reason, the more he talked to her, the more he knew about how her journey was going, the more he wanted to be there and see all of it in person. Help her with the training maybe, show her his own training, his Z-moves… or honestly just be there, sharing the moment; even just sitting there and throw rocks at the river the whole day sounded awesome… was it weird to want that?

Was it actually… _that_?

He shook his head energetically and hurried to towel his damp hair. He needed to busy himself on something or these thoughts would be eating him.

“Hey Ash, can I ask you to peel some green beans for dinner?” Kukui asked, looming from the kitchen.

“Yeah, sure.” Ash put the towel on the chair and descended from the loft swiftly.

Peeling beans, that should do for now. Ash was still too mortified, not to mention tired from the previous night to go outside to train with his Pokemon. And so were they, all curled up on his bed since he returned from school.

He sat at the kitchen’s bar and started peeling beans a little slowly at first, but after the fifth pod his hands became mechanically used to the task. This once again left him again summed in his thoughts shooting aimless questions to himself over and over again.

He didn’t know how much time he was spending peeling until the voice of Kukui took him out of his daze.

“Ok Ash, that’s enough green beans for the rest of the week” he chuckled. “Can I also ask you to get some potatoes peeled please?”

“Ah…” Ash stopped and stared at the bowl now overflowing with beans “Yes, yes I can do that,” he added putting the unopened pod back on the sack and looking at the other seat for the potatoes basket.

By the time he finished peeling the second potato, he could feel himself frowning profusely. There was no way he could get to sleep that night with this mess inside his head.

“Say, Professor…”

“Mhm?”

“What exactly makes a female Cutiefly pick its mate?”

“Mhm…” Kukui brought the ladle’s helve to his lips, thinking for a moment. “That pretty much depends on which species of Cutiefly we’re talking about; the island they are originally from I mean. Because the environments are different and so are their necessities, the aptitudes considered ‘optimal’ in each island are different. Which one are you particularly interested in?”

“Eh… well none in particular. I was… “ Ash shifted in his seat, grabbing a new potato from the basket, “… to be honest I was asking in general. Cutiefly was the first Pokemon that came to mind. I thought it was something general, but if even among a single species there’s different conditions for it…”

Kukui gaped at him for a second before resting the ladle against the pot and sitting in front of Ash, taking the pods sack and starting to tie it closed.

“So… what’s on your mind?”

“Mhm?” Ash hummed quietly, his eyes never leaving the potato on his hands.

“I just felt like something is really weighing on your mind, that’s all. Something bad happen?” Kukui continued.

“Eh? No, it’s nothing like that” he looked up to him. “It’s not a bad thing… I think. It’s a bit ambiguous to be honest.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Mhm, yes maybe…”

Suddenly the kitchen bar was too small of a distance between him and Kukui. Ash hasn’t felt this nervous since…ever honestly. This kind of tension was new to him, maybe that’s why he felt overwhelmed by it?

“Go ahead, just let it out. Sometimes just hearing your own concerns out loud helps a lot.”

“Okay…” he said trying to choose his words. “Do you know how something, like a feeling, an emotion, maybe a common one, that just… gets under your skin and you can’t figure out why?” Ash finally asked.

Kukui stared at him for a moment, raising his eyebrows slowly like he just figured out something big.

“Like when something matters more than it should?”

“Yes! That, exactly!” Ash exclaimed. “It’s like a slippery Pokemon, you expected a battle to weaken it enough and then you would throw a Pokeball but you don’t catch it; and then you insist and you get the same result and again and again, and you waste a lot of Pokeballs on it. You know what I mean, right?”

“Haha, yes I do, I do” Kukui laughed. “That’s what we call frustration.”

“Yes, well… I’m frustrated because I’m feeling something that I can’t understand, and the more I think about it, the more confused I get, because I feel like I should be finding an answer by now and I’m not.”

Kukui hummed in approval. Ash took it as a cue to continue and go deeper.

“I’m missing someone; a lot. And I have moments where it makes me feel incredibly selfish, kind of wanting to hog their time. Well… no, that’s not what I feel… it’s different…” he trailed off as he picked up a peel that fell to his lap.

“Who is this someone we’re talking about?”

“She used to travel with me months ago while I was in Kalos, I think I’ve talked to you about her before. Her name is Serena, she’s a Pokemon performer from there. She’s in Hoenn right now.”

“Yes, you have certainly mentioned her a few times before” he nodded scratching his chin. “So… I’m guessing your problem comes with the fact that you like her?”

Ash could swear his heart skipped a beat. So, was that it after all? How come he never had that kind of… thought before, and why now of all the times? It seemed so random.

“You can tell me Ash, I won’t laugh or anything, I promise.” Kukui said with a completely serious face.

“It’s not that I have a problem telling you, I’m not sure myself if I do like her. I think I do but I’m not really sure”.

“What is it that makes you doubt it?”

Ash was silent for a while, staring into the space while he scratched his head. At this very point in the conversation he started feeling his face grow a little warm, he was sure he was blushing but Kukui either didn’t notice or realized it himself. Mentioning it wouldn’t contribute to the current situation and Ash was grateful for it, for this brand-new kind of embarrassment was a bit overwhelming for him.

“I’m not really sure what’s the difference between the way you love a friend and ‘that’ kind of love. I never questioned it before, because I didn’t have any interest on having people as anything different from friends. I definitely love all my friends and Serena is definitely a beloved friend and all of that but… at the same time it feels different and I don’t understand why, and why all of sudden!” Ash said with an aggravated look.

“Well, love comes in many forms and shapes. Ideally the person you want as your lover is also your best friend or one of your most special friends. The fact you are questioning it to begin with, I think it means something already.”

“I don’t know. I mean, yes she’s really nice and pretty, the prettiest girl I know. Maybe she is not the actual prettiest girl for other people, I know my friend Brock for example wouldn’t call her the prettiest girl in the world, but I certainly think she is. I also enjoy just spending time with her and a lot…” he trailed off a bit, a bit surprised by the smooth way the words jumped out of his mouth. “While I know Serena is strong and she’s out there doing everything in her power to get closer to her goals, I can’t help to worry. Not because I feel something will go wrong, because I know it won’t and even if it did Serena would solve the problem quickly. I would just… like to be there, to look over her, no against anything in particular though! I also just… enjoy being with her, it just… feels right for no reason in particular…”

As his ramble died down, Ash looked around at literally-everything-in-the-room finally to Kukui’s face, expecting a reaction, or more like expecting him to laugh to be honest. But he was just looking at him, his face didn’t show anything beyond undivided attention on the boy’s monologue, and Ash wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or not.

“…please say something…” Ash begged holding his burning face.

“Oh sorry, I was just making sure you were done.”

“I am… for now at least. So, what do you think?”

“Well Ash, that’s definitely ‘that’ kind of love.” Kukui said with a lopsided smile.

“Mhm” was the only sound Ash could articulate as he crossed his arms over the table and rested his head on them.

In that very moment, a noise from the stove startled them. The curry was boiling; Kukui hurried to stir it while taming down the fire with the other hand. Coincidentally Ash’s face also felt like boiling.

“You see Ash, ‘that’ kind of love as you call it, is pretty much characterized by all that stuff you said just now.”

“That bunch of nonsense?” Ash said raising his head a bit.

“Yes. When you love somebody like ‘that’ it’s kind of hard to describe. Sometimes it doesn’t even make sense when you try to explain to someone else why that one person is above everyone, even if there are people that might be superior to that one person in one or more qualities in general.”

“Then why am I stressing out now? Shouldn’t I have felt something back when we were together?”

“You can’t predict when it happens. Some experiment it at first sight, some after a re-encounter with the other person, some just after they got separated, there’s not a single way to fall in love honestly.”

“I bet” Ash hummed.

Kukui extended his hand to reach for the cup with green beans; Ash stood from the other side of the bar and passed it to him and immediately reassumed his task of peeling the potatoes, giving the conversation a little break.

When he went to throw the potato peels, his eyes fell on the photo frames on the bookshelves next to the entrance door. The picture on the very center featured Professor Kukui and this platinum haired woman he had got to know quite a lot about recently.

“You’re married, professor” he said suddenly, more like a reminder to himself.

“Yes indeed.”

“What’s the longest you have spent without seeing your wife? I mean, besides the daily video-calls?” Ash inquired, chuckling a bit at the end. 100% of the time those calls got very sappy and very fast. Professor Kukui didn’t realize that as much as he tried to keep his voice low, the more excited he got the more it rose. It… kind of reminded Ash of himself. Thank god he had relied on text conversations so far.

“Mhm, I would say this is the longest we’ve been apart. It’s going to be three months now. Why do you ask?”

“How do you cope with it?” he asked returning to the bar.

“How do I, indeed…” Kukui sighed.

Ash looked at him intently. He realized that this exchange he was having with the professor might be once in a lifetime chance. The more he thought about his past the more he noticed the lack of actual stable couples he had around him, let alone married couples, so it was not surprise he didn’t seem to understand the dynamics of ‘that’ kind of love very well. His mother had always been very self-sufficient and accommodated to her role of a single parent she never seemed to mourn Ash’s father absence from what he remembered, nor showed signs of wanting to change that situation. So he didn’t have that kind of role model with her either.

Now he thought about it, his mother might… have had some people interested in her here and there but she turned all of them down?...

Brock’s parents maybe?  That was the closest thing he knew and paid attention to for a ‘nice couple’ tag, and even they had been walking on eggshells for a good while before things started to get more stable. Now that he was questioning it himself though, Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet might be what he imagined a good couple would be like, maybe even a situation he could imagine himself in when he got older.

_“With Serena?”_

Ash wanted to smile and pinched his own arm to stop himself from doing so. Even though he didn’t need this conversation in the past, he was pretty grateful for it now.

“I mean do you miss her?” Ash asked again while Kukui strained the rice on the sink.

“Of course I do. It’s a fact I can live without her but I chose for it to be the other way around” the man finally said grinning bigly.

“I guess now I understand the use of the word sappy!” Ash exclaimed abruptly.

“Hahaha, you boy, out of all people, are not in the position to call me out on that!” Kukui laughed over his shoulder. “But again. We’re not apart due things beyond our control.  It’s something we both agreed on because we knew we could accomplish greater personal things being apart than sticking together, and that it was worth it.” He made a small pause to roughly chop the potatoes in large dice and adding them to the curry.

“That’s not always the right decision though, sometimes people decide to let chances slip by just because it doesn’t feel right to be apart from someone at that precise moment. There’s not a definite or even a correct choice when it comes to one’s own life, but as long as you decided for yourself and come to a clear agreement with your important person, it will always be the right path to follow”.

Ash felt his own eyes sparkling. He would be scared by the way everything was just falling in place so well if he wasn’t this happy and relieved.

He couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped him.

“What?” Kukui chuckled back.

“No, I’m just really liking what you said, that’s all” he said with a relieved smile. “It’s almost like you were telling me exactly what I wanted to hear, it’s creepily relatable!”

“I’m glad to hear that” he laughed again.

 “I read up there, the um… etymology?” he asked pointing out to the bookshelf of the loft, and then waited for Kukui to nod in approval to continue. “Yeah, that thing for the word ‘mate’. It was enlightening; especially the thing about soulmates. I didn’t know something like that existed, but seeing everything I was thinking about written down, that it had a name, even if I couldn’t settle down on a single definition; it made me feel better. Well now that I think about it, it’s weird to feel understood by a book, isn’t it?” he asked grinning while scratching the back of his head.

“So I’m assuming this was this triggered by the Pokemon Biology class of today? The one you slept through?” Kukui laughed.

“I said I was sorry okay!!!” Ash groaned, and Kukui couldn’t help but laugh loudly.

The conversation somewhat flowed naturally to an end just there as the dinner was ready and the older man sent Ash to get the plates. Over dinner he told Kukui more about Serena, told him some stories here and there, the boy himself getting surprised by the new perspective he looked at his own memories with, an unfolded fondness maybe? By the end of the night it was almost like Kukui had been there with them in Kalos and met her in person.

The last thing Ash did before heading to bed was thanked Kukui. He felt much better, so relaxed, and it was all thanks to him.

 

* * *

 

The next day and a good night of sleep through, Ash finally got his phone back first thing in the morning. It took him about an hour to catch up with everyone in P-Chatter before his field class started. When he got to the meadow, Sophocles gave him a phone case to prevent future casualties. It was made of rubber and stripped with the colors of his own shirt and Ash loved it.

Later that day the whole group headed to the promenade close to Mallow’s house and rewarded themselves with freshly squeezed sitrus juice and a new flavor of malasadas.

Before he realized it, Ash found himself snapping a picture of the plate in front of him and attaching a message to it:

 

 _< < “Serenaaa_  _~_   _! I just tried one of the best things of this world!! So delicious! Wait, let me send you a photo!” >>_

 

When questioned about the recipient of said photo, Ash was vague about it, after last night he said enough. But then he refused to let the conversation on his phone die there. He revealed it was for Serena, Mallow’s new favorite person apparently, so he could get the girl to share her personal recipe for malasadas.

Mallow had found about Serena through Ash and looked her up in the internet, quickly finding videos of her performances from last season. Of course she was emphatically interested in Serena’s cooking skills, and so they started to talk after Ash introduced them. In exchange for Serena’s number he got Mallow to lend him her phone a few times last week.

When the sun started to set, everyone said their goodbyes and vowed to see each other next day at school. By the time Ash arrived to Professor’s Kukui, it was totally dark and close to dinnertime. He took a quick shower before heading to set the table and feeding the Luvdiscs of the tank, when his phone chimed in his pocket.

 

<<-Mallow M. has sent _malasada-rcp.pdf_ ->>

_< <Here you go Ash! Send that to Serena and tell her I’m expecting photos when she tries this recipe for the first time ok? >>_

 

Ash was about to send a thumbs-up Pyukumuku followed by his thanks, when he noticed that it was weird he received the recipe instead of Serena, because Mallow had her number didn’t she? She could just tell herself.

He couldn’t even finish typing that before Mallow sent another message with a winking Stufful pokemote next to a blushing Pikachu.

And then a wall of hearts.

 _“Ah… that’s why … damn… she knows doesn’t she?”_ Ash thought giving an unamused look to his phone. Now he was wondering just how obvious had it been for everyone before Ash realized his feelings for himself.

He was grateful Mallow treated the matter so discretely even though he was sure this wasn’t the last time he’d be dealing with implications about this.

He shook his head and re-sent the file to Serena before replying to Mallow with a side eye Pikachu and a few okays. Mallow replied almost immediately with a Bounsweet sticking out his tongue. He let the conversation die there and finished attending the tank; he’d deal with Mallow’s sass tomorrow.

After dinner most of his friends had already headed to bed but he kept talking to Serena while channel surfing on the couch, all his Pokemon sleeping spread across his lap. Like he had told Professor Kukui the night before, it felt just right, just doing that was enough to make him happy, so he didn’t stress too much. He expected to be much more tense now that he knew the reason behind his recent behavior, but it was quite the opposite. He still had a lot to figure out, but for now Ash felt like a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He could learn to enjoy this.

After a bit of blankly staring at an infomercial channel Ash noticed he had been fighting sleep for a while now, and was losing. He turned off the TV and went up to the loft with his phone in one hand and a glass of water on the other, followed by an almost sleepwalking Pikachu.

While he got in his pajamas, his phone chimed again.

 

_< <Hahaha great idea Ash! I’ll do that then and head to bed this instant~!>>_

 

Ash stared at it raising an eyebrow. He wasn’t sure what that reply was for; he didn’t even remember what they had been talking about before he started dozing off.

Scrolling up a little he went to read the messages he missed. Oh true, there was a storm around the place Serena was spending the night at. He grew more and more mortified as he went over his own replies; for he didn’t remember writing any of that stuff. It was definitely something he did on auto-pilot while dozing off back in the couch.

Then he read the last sent message:

 

_< <Hahaha. Ok let’s do something. Imagine I’m there embracing you while you fall asleep so you don’t have to be afraid anymore!<3>>_

 

He could felt his face go crimson as he pressed his lips together. Way to go, way to mess up this brief harmony

 _“ <<Good to hear~ Talk to you tomorrow!>>_” he managed to reply casually as he buried his face on the pillow next to Pikachu. New rule for himself: no more chats around bedtime.

 

That night Ash dreamed again of Serena carrying him through a beautiful field of flowers, tons and tons of flowers as far as the eye could see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't expect something like this again anytime soon. I swear, writing this consumed my soul, I will just stick to do fanart (but I got a lot of feels in exchange so it was worth it in the end).
> 
> Companion pics for this fic:
> 
> 1- https://twitter.com/_NoVaNoah/status/862825691024412672  
> 2- https://twitter.com/_NoVaNoah/status/863199016850522112

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short drabble that accompanies this fanart I made over here!  
> http://novanoah.tumblr.com/post/155645851968/love-will-taste-like-malasadasor-malasadas-will  
> In the end the story ended up eclipsing the picture though! Not that I complain. Anything for everybody's beloved canon couple ♥
> 
> * * * * * * 
> 
> This story is part of my headcanon verse titled Pokemon Soul Masters, a thing you must be familiar with if you know me from tumblr!
> 
> -Visual designs of the P-Chatter app will come soon.


End file.
